It took guts to get back on the road to finish the race and it's people like you who get back on their feet after a near disaster that makes me proud to stand with you as a London Marathon finisher, regardless of time.

MikeyJ sounds like you and I were running near enough together for a lot of the early part of the race. I set off with the RW 8.30 pacers from Blue Start as well.

Like you my training had gone very very well and in March I did the Thanet 20 comfortably in 2.47, followed two days later by a PB in the club 10k of 44.56. From there I did three more long runs but admit to not doing very much in the middle due to weather, work, being knackered. At the end of March I went on holiday to Florida and did no training at all, apart from walking around theme parks every day, all day, swimming for about an hour a day and two five mile runs in upper 80's. Arriving back in the UK on the Wednesday before the race and having no sleep for 36 hours probably all combined to my downfall.

So moving back to Sunday I was with the 8.30 pacers through to Rotherhite, this was comfortable... I remember seeing the 9 mile mark and seeing it was 1.21 thinking this was very slow. By mile 11 though my legs were becoming like lead and by Kings Arms (around the corner from my office!) I was reduced to walking for a little bit... This would not have been such a problem because I run walk even the longer distance on approx 1 minute to every 5miles, with the balance at 8mins or below. However on Sunday by the time I got to Tower Bridge I felt like sh%% and by mile 12 decided that the sub 3.45 was out of the question instead I decided to go for sub 4, however by the half way point (1.57) even sub 4 was revised to just finishing the race. From there onwards my goal was simply to make it to 100m before the next mile marker so that I could walk up to the marker before running onto the next marker.

Fortunatly I never suffered as bad as you, but most of the last ten miles were spent with either a stitch or in the last 5/6 miles with pains across my chest which only eased when I reduced down to a walk.

Like you I was not prepared to quite despite feeling like an old toy whos battery was running out while the duracel bunny went hurtling past me again and again.

So it was with every last ounce of energy that I rounded Buckingham Palace to hear the announcer say that anyone who wanted sub 4:30 on their finish photo needed to pick up the pace. I rose to the occasion and staggered ungracefully to complete in 4:29:55, with a chip time of 4:27:06... 45 minutes outside target.

This was 8 seconds slower than my first marathon FLM 2002 and I was gutted... I phoned my wife at the finish line in 2002 and was in tears of joy, I felt on cloud nine, was hooked with marathons and felt that running was better than... 2004 I also phoned my wife and had to hold back the tears of sorrow. I felt like death warmed up, had decided never to run another marathon in my life and that I had let her down... This because she is very ill and has suffered in silence over the past four months so that I could complete the marathon and all the associated training. I was gutted not just for me but because I felt I had let her down in that all my training - and therefore her suffering by not having me at home had not resulted in the desired result... For me it was like cramming and studying getting an A+ in all the course work and mocks only to fail the exam on the day... (which is something I know a lot about but thats another story).

So a week (nearly) on and how do I feel.

Ok yes maybe I will have another go at a marathon, but it won't be this year (I had planned 5 this year), and it won't be next either. Instead I am going to concentrate now on the shorter distances, getting my speed up and then maybe when I can do a sub 40 10k, a sub 70 10mile and a sub 1:35 half maybe then and only then will I attempt a marathon again... unless of course I can wear one of those nice Mr Men costumes and be interviewed by the girls from the Sunday Sport in which case maybe just maybe I will be back in London next year.

I done my first marathon 2 years ago in Amsterdam but a leg injury before it ruined my training and it never really cleared up. However, I started it but after 15 miles had to walk and hobble to the finish. I was gutted as I hoped for a sub 4 but ended with a sub 5. It turned out that the injury was a fracture and saw my doctor who said not to put too much weight on it (didn't say I had just attempted a marathon!)

Like a lot of you on this thread I felt I had to do it again - it was now 'personal' -I did my next marathon (uninjured) in 3:58. Trust me, don't give up - it makes success the next time so much sweeter

Previously bookmarked threads are now visible in "Followed Threads". You can also manage notifications on these threads from the "Forum Settings" section of your profile settings page to prevent being sent an email when a reply is made.

Runner's World is a publication of Hearst Magazines UK which is the trading name of The National Magazine Company Ltd, 72 Broadwick Street, London, W1F 9EP. Registered in England 112955. All rights reserved. Runner's World, Part of the Hearst UK wellbeing network